Friction clutch



E. MaCCARRA FRICTION CLUTCH Filed Dec.

W n alla l mm TC E mwm W m lrlnm.- m02 E Patented Oct. 21, 1930 UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE FRICTION CLUTCH Applioation led December 28, 17,927. Serialv No. 242,999.

This invention relates particularly to friction clutches.

An object of the invention is to provide a friction clutch, to be interposed between a prime mover and a point of1 use for the power delivered from said prime mover, which will not work against'the motor to counteract the functioning thereof, and which may be readily declutched without the necessity of stopping the `prime mover. A furtherl object of the invention is to provide' a friction clutch for electric mo'- tors "which will permit the.. mechanism driven by the motor to be declutched therefrom to ring said mechanism to an immediate stop, and a clutch which will ",lioatA with the driving and driven shafts while en a ed. t efr objects of the invention are toprolvide a friction clutch to connect the driving shaft of a motor with a-driven shaft that will be superior in point of simplicity, inexpensiveness' of construction, vpositiveness of operation," and facility and convenience in use and-.general eiciency.

LIn'the specification and the annexed draw- P ings, the invention is illustrated in the form considered tobe the best, but it is to be understood that the invention is not limited a0 to such form, because itvmay be embodied in other forms and it is also tov be understood that in and by the claims following the description', .it is desired to cover the invention in -whatsoever fogli 'it may be $5 embodied.

In the accompanying one sheet of drawa clutch constructed1in-accordance with my invention, interposed between a driving motor and driven mechanism,`taken -on the line 1---1ofl`ig.3. f 'y Y' -Eig. ,2 is a lon itudinal section'similar tol Fig. 1', showing the clutch in the 'disengaged l position. f

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1. 4 D f n .'In. detail the construction illustrated 1n thel drawings comprises an electric motor. 1, la or any( other type of'prime mover, having a.

driving shaft 2 extended therefrom. A housing plate 3, having a hub bearing 4 arranged concentrically thereon,.is secured to the motor shaft 2 in axial alignment therewith, by means of. a taper pin 5 which holds the said housing 3 in a predetermined position on the shaft. The inside face of the housing 3 is provided with an annular recess 6 therein, `and a circumferential fiange. 7 `projects outwardly from the peripher of the housing 3. The housing 3 is pre erably formed out of metal in order to provide a durable structure.

. A circular member 8 of substantially the same outer diameter as the flange,y 7, formed of fiber or leather, or some other' compressible form of non-metallic material, is secured to the housing 3, and said member 8 is provided with an annular recess therein havin an inwardly tapering annular wall 10. he opposite side of the member 8 is provided ,wlth an annular depression 11 therein..l`| The member 8 having the tapered depression 10 thereinfunctions as the female half ofthe clutcht iA disc 12fhaving` a taered peripherythe'reon, that matches the mclination of the recess 10, is adapted to frictionally en'age therewith, the disc 12 functioning as t e male element of the clutch assembly. The disc 12 is preferably formed from metal.

A driven shaft 13 i's pinned at 14 to the disc 12 inr coaxial arrangement therewith and in axial alignment with the driving shaft 2. The shaft 13 extends through an opening that is provided. centrally 1n the female member 8, and the free end of the shaft is mg of the mechanism 16, that is to be driven by the motor 1. The end of the shaft 13, within the housing containin the mechanism to be driven, is provide with a gear 17 thereon that meshes with a ear 18 journaled in the housing; The partlcular mecha- 'nism within the'housing 16 plays 'no particular part with the functioning of the invention and I have merely illustrated suiici'ent mec anism to show one method of using the drivin power from the motor 1.

A co lared sleeve 194 is rotatably mounted csf iig, 1 is a longitudin/al Section through Journaled ma bearing 15 formed on the hous on the shaft 13, one end ofthe collar 19 having a peripheral flange 20 thereon to frictionally engage the recess 11 in the outer face of the female clutch member 8. The interior of the opposite end of the sleeve 19 is recessed out as at 21, and an expansion spring 22 is confined within said recess. One end of the spring 22 bears against the bottom of the recess 21, while the opposite end of the spring bears against a collar 23 that is fixed on'the shaft 13. The distance between the collar 23 and the male clutch disk 12 is a predetermined one, and the parts of the device are so fitted that the spring 22 normally will cause the sleeve 19 to urge the female clutch member 8 into engagement with the male clutch member 12. In the declutching or disengaging operation, the female clutch member 8 is allowed to move relative to the male clutch member 12, due to the fact that the driving shaft 2 of the motor has a sufcient amount of end play which can be utilized in the clutching and declutching action. The driving shaft 2 of the motor is disengaged from the driven shaft 13 through the clutch, by means of a manually actuated shifting lever 25 which engages the sleeve 19 to move the sleeve 19 axially on the shaft 13 to compress the spring 22, and to thereby free the said sleeve from the female clutch member 8, whereby said female clutch member 8 Will have a slight axial movement, by reason of the end play in the motor shaft, to thereby disengage the female and male clutch members.

In Fig. 1, the clutch parts are shown in the clutched position, while in Fig. 2, the

arts are shown in the declutched position.

he clutch is self adjusting in that, as the said clutch wears through use, it automatically takes up the wear by reason of the end play of the shaft of the driving motor, permitting the device to maintain at all times a proper frictional engagement between the related elements. l

I have particularly designed this clutch to eliminate any end thrust or end pressure on the motor or the mechanism, and the device as constructed, will float with the driving and driven shafts when in the engaged positionv allowing a limited oscillating or gyratory movement. The manner in which my clutch is constructed,valso eliminates the ne-` cessity of lubrication on the clutching parts.

Having thus described this invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A clutch comprised of a housing adapted to be connected to a prime mover,A said housing havin a 'concentrically arranged annular recess t erein; an annular non-metal member secured concentrically on the housing, having an annular recess therein coinplementing the recess in the housing, the periphery of the recess .in the member being tapei-ed; a circular metal disk having a tapered periphery to engage the tapered recess in the non-metal member to be driven thereby; a driven co-aXially arranged shaft on said disc and extended through the non-metal member; a sleeve on said shaft adapted to bear against a face of the nonmetal member; a spring to urge said sleeve into engagement with the non-metal member; and to hold the non-metal driving member and metal disk in engagement; and means to move the sleevey on the shaft to declutch the driving and driven members.

2. In a clutch the combination of a driving shaft; a driven shaft in axial alignment therewith, the adjacent ends of said shafts being spaced from each other; a housngixedly secured on said driving shaft, said driven shaft extending through said housing with freedom of movement relatively to said housing; a female member inside of said housing, facing the end of the driving shaft; a male clutch member fixed on the end of the driven shaft within the housing opposite said female member; resiliently urged means on the driven shaft, outside of the housing, for urging said female member into frictional engagement with the male member; and means to shift said resiliently urged means away from the housing into a declutching position.

3. In a clutch, the combination of a driving shaft, a driven shaft, the adjacent ends of the shafts being spaced from each other; a housing ixedly secured on the driving shaft, said driven shaft rotatably extending through said housing opposite the driving shaft; a non-metal female clutch member in said housing facing the driving shaft; a male clutch member fixed on the driven shaft within the housing in coacting relation with the female member, resiliently urged means on the driven shaftoutside of the housing bearing against the housing and againstthe driven shaft so as to urge said female member `of the housing into engagement with the male member; and means to shift said ,resiliently urged means away from and out of engagement with the housing thereby allowing the disengagement of the clutch members from each other. I

4. In a clutch, the combination of a driving shaft, a driven shaft, the adjacent ends of theshafts being spaced from each other; a housing iredly securedv on the driving shaft, said driven shaft rotatably extending through said housing opposite the driving shaft; a compressible non-metal female clutch member in said housing facing the driving shaft; a metal male clutch member fixed on the driven shaft within the housing in coacting relation with 'the lfemale member, resiliently urged means on the driven shaft outside of the housing bearing against the housing' so as to ur e said male and lfemale members intoy frictional engagement with each other; and means to shift said resilientl ur edmeans out of en agement vwith the ousing thereby allowing t e disengagement of `the clutch members from each other.' 5. In a clutch, the combination of a drivjing shaft, a driven shaft in axial alignment v therewith, the adjacent ends ofthe shafts l vbeing spaced from each other; a ri 'd housing `element `fixed on the driving sha a com-- pressible housing element secured to the rigid element, said comV ressible element having an laperture therein ar er than the circumfer-v enceof the driven sfaftysaid driven shaft extending through said aperture; said oo mpressibleelementhaving a recess on the 1ni side'ffac'ejthereo'f formingA a "female clutch member; a male-clutch vmember complemental to Said recess, being viistedly'secured 'to saiddriven shaft within thehousing; rev e urged' means: o'n the' driven shaft adapte 'stoexert avpressure upon thefoutside l silientl l'face of: thefconipressible housing element f-'for urging saidfelnale and malel clutch ele .ments intojfrictional engagementl with each e other; and-A meanstoshift said resiliently urged means out of engagementfwith the com- 'nu1ar, tapered said tapered recess; `resihently urged vmeans `slidable on the'driven'shaft vfor exerting a pressible housing element.. v `6. In a clutch the combination of a driving shaft; a driven shaft in axial alignment with the driving shaft-,the adjacent ends of the shafts being spaced fromeach other; a ri id housing element securedon the end of t e driving shaft, a compressiblefnonmetalhousing element secured Vto said-'rigid s element, said compressible" elementhaving a v centralapertunef therein for receiving said y: dri'venfshaft therethru'ghlwith lfreedom vof '40 movement relative thereto .saidcompressible element having a concentriqannular ta 'recess on the-inside face thereof,js; disk xed# lysecured tothe endbfftheldriven shaft f red .within said housing, said-disk having an aiaperiphel coinplemental to pressure on the outside face 'of the compres- -siblehousing element lfor urging said comv "pres'sible element into frictional engagement', with-said disc; and means to shift said re- .1

siliently' L-urged.meansl out of engagement f l y withsaid 'compressilleelemenh y hereof`I have hereunto set Intes'timon my hand at van,"I4"ranc1sco,'California, this 13th day 'of December y11927.

. i f )ERNEST MACCARBA, 

